Friday, March 14, 2014

Kiev, the New Berlin

The Cold War ended on December 25, 1991 with the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Berlin airlift

But, Cold War references appear back in vogue, and it can be traced back to the return to power of Vladimir Putin in May 2012. His election for a second non-consecutive term was accompanied by widespread protest, which initiated a systematic suppression and convinced Putin that the West was behind it. The increasingly autocratic Putin has been single-mindedly focused on reestablishing Russia’s influence with its neighbors, former states of the old Soviet Union and on the world stage.

The attack on Georgia in 2008 was the first indication that he would use the army to achieve his goals, and now Russian troops occupy the Crimea.

Eastern Europe was an early battleground in the Cold War. The first and one of the most serious flash points of the West’s confrontation with the Soviet Union was in Berlin.

In 1949, Berlin’s land supplies were blocked. Joseph Stalin was in charge, and he wanted to assert control over Berlin deep in the Soviet sector of occupied Germany. Again, it was Berlin in 1961 where Nikita Khrushchev agreed with East Germans to build the Berlin Wall to halt immigration to the West. President John Kennedy faced his first test with the Soviets.

Stalin lifted the blockade after the West’s airlift kept the city alive. It took 26 years, but the wall fell as the entire Eastern bloc of the Soviet empire began to unravel in 1989 and was completely dismantled in 1990.

American presidents led the effort to protest Berlin and rollback the Soviet empire.

Ciruli Associates

Floyd Ciruli founded Ciruli Associates, a research and consulting firm specializing in public policy and research, in 1985.

Mr. Ciruli holds a law degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and a bachelor’s degree cum laude in political science from UCLA. He is a member of the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), and is the past-president of the Pacific Chapter of AAPOR (PAPOR). Mr. Ciruli is the Director of the Crossley Center for Public Opinion Research at the University of Denver Josef Korbel School of International Studies. He is an adjunct professor teaching public opinion and foreign policy. Mr. Ciruli is a board member of the Social Science Foundation of the University of Denver Josef Korbel School of International Studies and past-president of the Georgetown Law Alumni Board.

Mr. Ciruli is widely known to Colorado audiences as a pollster and political analyst for 9-KUSA TV, KOA Radio and The Denver Post. Most recently, he has appeared on Fox News with Neil Cavuto. In September 2016, Mr. Ciruli was inducted into the Denver Press Club Hall of Fame. He hosts the state’s leading blog for politics and trends at www.fciruli.blogspot.com.